Current Superstitions

Project GutenbergProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 290K words
Chapters: 29

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971, and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today. Current Superstitions by William Wells Newell and Fanny D. Bergen. Author: , Language: English, Class: GR: Geography, Anthropology, Recreation: Folklore, Release Date: Aug 5, 2006

Editor's review

This is a folklore compilation about superstitions, edited by William Wells Newell and Fanny D. Bergen. It records in entry form various superstitions circulating in the English-speaking world, covering everyday omens, seasonal taboos, animal portents, and related themes. Its value lies not in narrative but in the rawness and searchability of its material: the editors focused on recording the sayings themselves and where they circulated, providing citable primary material for folklore studies, anthropology, and social history. The Gutenberg electronic edition is convenient for full-text search and excerpting, and works well as a reference book to dip into. There is no need to read it from cover to cover; browse by theme and take notes. For general readers, it is more like an amusing cultural archive that shows how premodern ways of thinking linger in everyday language and habits.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Students of folklore and anthropology who need original superstition entries as research material
Culture enthusiasts interested in folk beliefs and everyday taboos of the English-speaking world
Writers or translators who need to verify sources of Western superstitious allusions

Not a good fit for

General readers expecting a coherent narrative or plot-driven reading experience
Readers seeking systematic theoretical exposition rather than a compilation of entries

Reading tips

Browse by theme and mark citable entries with their numbers for easy reference.
Read alongside introductory folklore works to understand the classification logic behind the entries.
Compare entries of interest with contemporary customs to observe how superstitions persist and change.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book an academic monograph or a compilation of material?

It is closer to a compilation: it lists superstitions in entry form with information on collection and circulation, and offers little theoretical analysis. It is suitable as research material or a reference tool rather than a monograph systematically discussing folklore theory.

Will non-specialist readers find it dull?

Reading it straight through may feel scattered, but browsing by theme is quite engaging. Each entry is short and self-contained, making it suitable for reading in spare moments; it works better as a collection of cultural curiosities.

Can it be used as a citable source?

It can be cited as a source of original folklore material, but note that it was compiled long ago and some records carry the limitations of their time. In academic writing, verify edition information and cross-check with other sources.

Comments

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About the author

Project Gutenberg Author

Project Gutenberg is not a single author but a nonprofit digital library founded by Michael Hart in 1971 and one of the world's earliest free ebook platforms. It relies on volunteers to digitize, proofread, and freely distribute public-domain works and is now operated by the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Its collection contains 2,692 works, mainly religious texts, epics, and story collections, including the King James Bible and the Douay-Rheims volumes, the epic Mahabharata, a literal translation of the Arabian Nights, and Danish editions of the Old and New Testaments. Public information is limited, and its nature is closer to a public-interest compiling and dissemination body; these texts are open to the public, easy to consult and circulate, and have had a profound influence on the spread of ebooks and the preservation of public-domain resources.